This was the fourth year the criterium returned to the streets of Exeter. The original Exeter Criterium was held from 1975 to 1995. It restarted in 2004 and was called the Seacoast Criterium the past three years till being renamed this year.

Pratt, a 21-year-old graduate of the University of New Hampshire, won the sprint to the line in the women's race, just edging Debony Diehl, of Jackson, and Rebecca Wellons, of Auburn, Mass. Pratt said she got real lucky on the last lap, that she got behind a lead-out train of riders from NEBC who were pulling and blocking, got past them, started her sprint with 50 meters to go and held it to the finish.

"Just by a little bit," said Pratt, referring to the margin of victory.

Keough, a 20-year-old CL Noonan/Coast to Coast/KAM rider from Sandwich, Mass., ended John Hamblen's three-year reign as the men's champion. Keough said he moved his way to the front of the long line of riders with six laps to go in the men's race and was the "third wheel" in a lead-out train of riders on the last lap.

"The pace was high and it was a wide-open sprint," said Keough, noting he had a good visual of the sprint.

There were 22 starters in the women's 17.6-mile race, which started and finished opposite the Exeter Historical Society and looped in a one-mile circuit through town. The men's race, a 28-mile race, boasted 121 starters.

Aside from winning their respective titles, Pratt and Keough both won the David Bemis Awards, which were presented to the best under 23-year-old rider in both races. Bemis was a former member of the UNH cycling team who was killed in a motorcycle accident this past May. Pratt didn't know Bemis, but she did know a lot about him through her former UNH coach, Ed Spuler, who rode with Bemis and also later coached him.

Pratt said she met with the Bemis family after the race and spoke to them.

"It was wonderful they were here," said Pratt.

Pratt, who graduated this May from UNH with a degree in international affairs and political science, won the Eastern Conference overall title and finished third at this year's Division I nationals, which were held in Kansas.

Spuler, who co-directed the Exeter Criterium with Maureen Barrows, said that "to win a race like this is awesome."

Spuler doesn't know whether or not Pratt will continue to pursue a career in cycling — she intends to study abroad in China — but "the sky is the limit with her."

Pratt grew up in Garnisch, Germany and came to the U.S. when she became a student at UNH. She only bicycled at the recreational level before joining the UNH cycling team as a sophomore.

Most days you can find her working at the Durham Market Place, but when she's not working, she's riding her bike as much as she can. She rode against some of the best pros in the country at the Nature Valley championships in Minnesota and finished seventh.

Like most riders in the field, Keough used the Exeter Criterium as a tuneup for the Longsjo stage races in Fitchburg, Mass., later this week. He's raced all over the world, and this was his fourth win of the season.

Keough said he works for his father, but "my full-time job is bike racing." He'll be attending Cap Cod Community College this fall.

Keough edged Adam Myerson, a Nerac Pro Cylcing racer from Dorchester, Mass., and Daniel Estevez, a member of Hot Tubes from Worcester, Mass. Skip Foley, of Wayland, Mass., and Kirk Carlsen, of Sandown, rounded out the top five.

Hamblen, the defending champion from Winston-Salem, N.C., finished further down the pack.

"The course didn't suit me very well," said Hamblen, who grew up in Deerfield. "Too flat."

Hamblen, 31, didn't know till the day before the race that they changed the course due to construction.

The winners of the David Barrows Awards were Elizabeth Hatch, who rides for Vanderkitten and lives in Delray Beach, Fla., and Christopher Jones, of Nerac Pro Cycling from New Haven, Conn. The David Barrows Awards are presented annually to the men's and women's winners of the ninth lap.

The winners of the Brian Bogart Awards were Marta Downing, a CCB rider from Portsmouth, and Jake Hollenbach, a CCB/Volkswagen rider from Shelburne, Vt.

David Barrows and Brian Bogart grew up in Exeter, attended UNH, and rode competitively on the nationally-ranked UNH cycling team. A scholarship was established in their memory in 2002, and is awarded each year to assist a competitive cyclist with college expenses.

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